Make December memorable and creative for your kids by spending time crafting, decorating, creating and just having fun while they use their imaginations. One idea for their creative skills is to make a festive “Ugly Christmas Sweater,” which has become a symbol of holiday cheer. The “ugly sweater” trend began in the 1950s when Christmas-themed pullovers called “Jingle Bell Sweaters,” were decorated with traditional symbols such as Santas, snowmen and other whimsical decorations.
This resulted in a comical mismatched look. However, the term “ugly” is used humorously, as ugly sweaters are meant to be cheerful and fun.
To begin, all you need is a plain pullover sweater that you may already own or perhaps you can find a sweater at a thrift shop. You only need minimal sewing skills such as the running stitch as most of the sweater suggestions below have no-sew directions and the use of fabric glue.
Mitten Sweater
Draw around your fingers and thumb on a piece of paper to create mitten shape templates. Make small mittens and large mittens. Then, cut out the mitten templates and pin them onto colourful fabrics such as red, green or bright pink. Cut out all the mittens and decorate each mitten with trims, lace and whatever you can find in your sewing box. With a needle and thread, sew each mitten randomly onto your sweater with a running stitch or use fabric glue. Now, bling it out! This is the fun part! Add small sparkly pom-poms, buttons, jingle bells, beads and glitter… use whatever you’ve got!
Snowflake Sweater
Put a mug upside down on top of a piece of white fabric. Then draw lightly around the mug with a pencil. Using a pair of scissors, cut out the circle you have drawn. Then, fold the circle in half, then fold it in half again. Cut triangles of different sizes from each edge of the folded shape. Open out the circle to reveal your snowflake. Make as many snowflakes in different sizes as you like. Glue sequins onto the snowflakes and hand sew the snowflakes onto the front of your sweater. Make different sized snowflakes. Add glitter glue for further decoration.
Colourful Sweater
This is a fast sweater to make. Gather any Christmas decoration you can think of: bows, bells, ornaments, garland, ribbon and place it on a sweater. Then, begin stitching the items onto your sweater with a needle and thread. For further bling, sew on colourful beads and sequins.
Snowman Sweater
Make the snowman by cutting out three round circles onto white fabric. Use a dinner plate for the large circle, a soup bowl for the middle circle and a mug for the snowman’s head. Place each circle onto your sweater and stitch in place using the running stitch to form the snowman. To make the “carrot”nose, cut out a piece of orange felt fabric and stitch in place. For the eyes, cut two circles of black felt and glue into place. Customize your snowman with a colourful scarf, black top hat or even small jingle bell buttons.
Then head to that Ugly Christmas Sweater party to show off your creation!
